Ion vincent DAnu

I am a Canadian visual artist, born in Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania. I loved to draw as an infant and between 14 and 18 I was an 'apprentice artist' at the Art High School in Sibiu. Then life took over and for about 20 + years art was just an occasional delight... I've returned to my first love, drawing, painting, in Sherbrooke, Quebec, were I've immigrated with my family in the nineties. Since 2003, I'm a full-time professional artist...

I paint mostly in watercolor and acrylics but I cannot stop myself experimenting with all kinds of other themes, materials and styles (The art dealers say this is not good but what the heck!?)

I've learned to take pictures since I was 11-12 years old and a camera is always somewhere near. I use photography as an art in itself and also as an auxiliary source of inspiration and documentation for my drawings and paintings. Recently, I've started to work in the fascinating field of digital art.

Writing is a complementary mean to express myself (and, as Graham Greene, put it once: a therapy.) Being an admirer of Vincent van Gogh I founded a blog called: 'Van Gogh and I' (see at http://ivdanu.wordpress.com/)...

In fact, what Graham Greene said about writing (and art creating in general) is essential for me too:

'Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or PAINT can manage to escape the madness, the melancholia, the panic fear which is inherent in the human situation. Auden noted: 'Man needs escape as he needs food and deep sleep.'